Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer have released their new single, “Take My Hand.”
The group consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Luke Hemmings, lead guitarist Michael Clifford, bassist Calum Hood, and drummer Ashton Irwin.
Originally beginning their career as YouTube celebrities, 5 Seconds of Summer rose to international fame while touring with English-Irish boy band One Direction on their Take Me Home Tour.
Since 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer have sold more than 10 million albums, sold over 2 million concert tickets worldwide, and the band’s songs streams surpass 7 billion, making them one of the most successful Australian musical exports in history.
In early 2014, the band released “She Looks So Perfect” which topped the charts in four countries. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2014, peaking at number one in 11 countries. The band released their second album Sounds Good Feels Good in 2015, topping the charts in 8 countries.
5 Seconds of Summer’s third album Youngblood, released in 2018, was a commercial success and became their third number one album in their home country. In the US, 5 Seconds of Summer became the first Australian act to achieve three number one albums on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The band also became the first band (not vocal group) to have their first three full-length albums debut at the top in the US. The album’s single, “Youngblood” is the fourth highest selling Australian single of the 2010-2019 decade and is the eleventh best-selling single in Australian history, selling over five million adjusted copies worldwide within the first six months of its release.
On 27 March 2020, the band released their fourth studio album Calm. The album was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the band’s artistic growth and maturity. The album charted in more than 25 countries on numerous charts, and debuted atop the charts at number one in Australia, the UK and Scotland.
“Calm” peaked in the top 10 on 17 charts, including number two in Mexico and number four in Austria, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand and Portugal. In the US, due to an alleged shipping error, approximately 15,000 copies of the album were released early, which resulted in Calm debuting a week early on the Billboard 200 chart.
Had the shipping error not occurred, Calm would have debuted at number one in the US, earning the band’s fourth consecutive number one in the country. Despite the shipping error, the album peaked at number two in the US, earning the band their fifth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart.
In June, Billboard named the album as one of the Top 50 Best Albums of 2020 So Far. With Calm earning the band their fourth consecutive number one in their home country, 5 Seconds of Summer became the second Australian band in history to have their first four full-length studio albums debut at number one on the ARIA albums chart.
Calm remains the best-selling cassette album of 2020 in the UK. The band is set to embark on their headlining world tour, the No Shame Tour, in 2021. The tour was originally set to begin in 2020, but had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 23 September 2020, Irwin announced the release of his debut solo album, titled Superbloom, released on 23 October 2020. He is the first member of the band to release a solo project. Irwin stated, “It brings me the greatest joy of all that I am in a band that allows me to create freely inside and outside of it”.
